New home for the Registration Office?

The place to register births, deaths and marriages in Spalding could move to the Priory Road council offices.

The Registration Office is currently located at Bath Lane opposite the River Welland.

Since October its future location has been uncertain with couples looking to arrange a civil partnership or marriage being unable to book ceremonies.

But Lincolnshire County Council has now submitted a planning application to move the service into the South Holland District Council offices.

The district council has also welcomed the Department for Work and Pensions and Citizens Advice into its building.

Changes to the existing building detailed in the application include creating a “ceremony” room and installing a 1.8m-high timber screen in the existing office garden for wedding photos, “all in an effort to accommodate the Lincolnshire County Council Registrars Service from around December 2019”.

Minor alterations would take place to the inside of the building in order to create the necessary amount of rooms needed for the service.

Leader of Lincolnshire County Council, Coun Martin Hill, said: “Our lease on the current building housing Spalding’s registration office, is coming to an end. We’re currently considering options for relocation of registration services, and we’re working with South Holland District Council to see if we could relocate the service within their offices on Priory Road.

“Listening to customer feedback, this would mean we would be able to offer improved and more accessible facilities to people registering and births, deaths and marriages/civil partnerships, and associated services in the Spalding area.”

The planning application can be viewed by searching for ‘Priory Road’ on the SHDC planning portal.